


Burn the Father

by AvocadoMunch



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Emotional
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:42:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28329921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvocadoMunch/pseuds/AvocadoMunch
Summary: The end of the Grimm Troupe as we know it is upon us.  The Nightmare Heart is about to beat for a final time...What comes after the end?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. Beginning Of The End

There were flames everywhere. The Nightmare Realm was burning to the ground, Grimm and his troupe were frantically searching for an escape. 

"Divine!" Grimm yelled, coughing through the red smoke that filled his lungs. "Divine, where are you?" 

"I'm over here!" a raspy, feminine voice yelled back. 

"I... I can't see you!" He yelled back, coughing wildly. Grimm then tripped, falling face-first into a stray flame on the ground nearby. He screamed in agony as he quickly rolled away, putting his hand over the burn. 

"What happened?" Divine asked from somewhere Grimm couldn't see. 

"I burned myself, it's fine though," he said. "Where are you? I can't see anything!" 

"Try to follow the sound of my voice!" She yelled back. 

Grimm trudged through the tent's wreckage and rubble, avoiding the walls of flame that surrounded him. As he was walking he heard the sound of wood breaking and looked up to see where it was coming from. All at once, a large, sharp piece of wood fell from the ceiling, once it fell Divine began to scream. 

"Divine!" Grimm was filled with adrenaline suddenly, pushing through the rubble as hard as he could. "No!" 

He followed the sounds of her screaming and saw something horrific. She was laying on the ground, the sharp piece of wood sticking out of her tail. He quickly rushed to be by her side. 

"Divine! How bad is it?" He quickly asked. 

She grunted in pain, "Very," was all she could say. 

Grimm began to panic, which was a new feeling for him, only causing him to panic even more. "You're going to live," he told her. He attempted to pick her up but that only resulted in a sharp yelp of pain. Grimm heard a loud roar of flame and turned to see the flames that covered the walls were only getting bigger, casting a shadow over the dying woman. 

"What should we do?" Grimm asked. He was becoming frantic. 

Divine sighed, "There is no 'we' anymore, master," she barely managed to say. She began coughing wildly. "You have to leave. Now." 

"No! I'm not leaving you," Grimm yelled, he had tears forming in the corners of his eyes. The flames were only growing bigger behind him, and the ends of his cloak were starting to burn. 

"Master, look around you. There's no time, all I ask is that you make it quicker than the fire would," she said. "Please." 

He began sobbing fully. "Don't say that."

"Master... It was an honor," blood began to leak out of the wound. "I'll see you in the next life," she weakly smiled. "Please." 

"I... I need you, Divine. You were there for me at the start, you taught me how to be the Troupe Master," he said through tears. "I... I can't." 

She sighed and then coughed some more, "You can't possibly drag me out of here, nor could you teleport. The Nightmare Realm is the source of your power and if that's falling apart so will your power," she explained. "There's no choice, master. Use the last of your power to make it painless for me. That's all I ask, master. But promise me you'll do everything in your ability to keep the rest of the troupe safe for me. "

Grimm began sobbing harder. He was unable to stand, unable to move, and unable to outwardly express his anger and sadness. Eventually, he stood. With tears pouring down his face he quietly said, "I promise. I'll see you in the next life, Divine." He shot a solid beam of Nightmare Flame through her chest, leaving a large hole, and killing her instantly. 

With tears flooding his eyes, Grimm ran out of the tent. There was still fire outside, there was fire everywhere for that matter, but the worst of it was inside. Brumm approached Grimm and asked, "Where's Divine?" 

Grimm turned to face Brumm, and the tears in the Troupe Master's eyes were enough to answer Brumm's question. "No..." Brumm staggered back. 

"I had no choice," Grimm said, looking at the sky. 

"What?" Brumm yelled. 

"She was impaled, the fire grew..." he said, tears falling harder still. 

"So you gave up on trying to save her and killed her?!" Brumm yelled. 

"I DID NOT GIVE UP!" Grimm yelled at his assistant. "I DIDN'T WANT TO DO WHAT I DID, BUT THERE WAS NO OTHER OPTION!" 

"YOU COULD HAVE TRIED HARDER!" Brumm yelled, there were tears forming in his eyes as well. 

Grimm stepped back from Brumm. "She was like a mother to me... You think I didn't try as hard as I could have?" 

"I think you could have tried a little harder," Brumm said with an angry bitterness to his voice. His words punched Grimm in the gut. All Grimm could do was walk away before he killed Brumm too. 

~~~

Grimm walked over to where his child was sleeping and sat down next to him. 

"Oh, little one. I'm envious. How I wish I could be asleep right now," he said. 

The child made small cooing noises in their sleep. Being infantile, they couldn't form words, but they were still so talkative. 

Grimm smiled through his tears, "I promise that I will keep you safe. No matter what," he said to the child who couldn't understand him. The child greatly resembled his father, having the same shape of head and color scheme throughout their body. 

Grimm looked at the landscape of the Nightmare Realm. The horizon was ablaze, the sky was black when it was normally red, and the smoke blocked out the light of the moon. The fires on the ground were the only light source. "I guess it really is the end," Grimm said to himself. He attempted to use his power of Nightmare Flame, but to no avail. He was powerless. 

He sighed and slowly picked his child up. The child mumbled slightly but remained in slumber nonetheless. Grimm stood and walked over to the remainder of the Grimm Troupe. 

"There's a portal to the mortal world about half a day's walk from here!" He announced. "We leave in an hour!" 

He received various groans as a response. 

"Oh, I'm sorry... Do you need to take a nap?" Grimm asked with sarcasm so obvious it smacked everyone across the face. "Because last time I checked, the worlds on fire! We have to move as soon as we can if we want to stay as safe as possible... I refuse to let anyone else die," he said, shooting an angered glare at Brumm. 

Grimm stepped away and sat down. He cradled his child in his arms, pushing down the overflow of sadness from Divine's death. As long as he kept his emotions suppressed, he could still be a leader. 

At least, that's what he told himself. 

_Apparently, I hate myself because this is the third story I'm making without finishing the other two. Aaaanyways, I'm looking forward to this story because it's going to be something new. It's going to be in the same style as Those Who Weren't Hollow, where it's more emotion-based and isn't a romance novel._

_As well, this story might be shorter than most, (my estimate is around 12-15 chapters) but I'll try to make each chapter longer than the last, so hopefully it's not too boring of a read._

_Anyway, imma go OD on some caffeine because I'm tired, later._

_-Avocado (aka munch)_


	2. Changes

The walk was long and brutal, the heat of the flames was only getting worse. On top of that, the Nightmare Heart was beating so loud everyone could hear it. Grimm wrapped his child in his cloak and held them close to his chest, keeping them safe from the flames that danced on the horizon. 

"I noticed a burn on your face, master," said Brumm from behind Grimm. "Are you in need of medical attention?" 

"No." His answer was short but somehow displayed a great amount of anger at the same time. 

Brumm sighed. "Master, what I said was insensitive and I was entirely out of line. I deeply apologize." His voice sounded sincere, and Grimm almost felt bad because he knew how close Brumm and Divine were. 

"I appreciate the apology," Grimm's voice displayed how drained he was. "She was a great woman, and someone we both admired." 

"Indeed she was," Brumm said, fighting back tears of his own. "We shan't forget her." 

Grimm heard muffled noises coming from his cloak and he looked down and saw his child squirming around. He opened the cloak fully and saw that his child was awake. 

"Well, look who's finally awake," he smiled at his infant son. "We're almost there, young one." 

"Are we?" Brumm asked, analyzing the horizon. 

"You see that down there?" Grimm pointed to a red beam of light that was shooting upwards out of the ground. "That's it." 

"Ah," Brumm said. 

Their conversation was interrupted by the Grimmchild floating up and out of the cloak. The child made small noises as they whirled around Grimm's head, eventually landing on his shoulder. He curled back up and went back to sleep atop his father's shoulder. 

Grimm chuckled slightly, "Comfortable?" 

The child responded with a small coo. 

"He takes after you, master," Brumm said. "It'll be interesting to see how he turns out in the future." 

"It definitely will be..." Grimm trailed his words as he stared in the distance at nothing. "Right now we have to hurry and get back to the mortal world as soon as we can." 

"Yes," Brumm said. "Where will this portal take us?" 

"I'm not sure, but we'll find out when we arrive," Grimm admitted. He reached up and began to pat his child's head, receiving small purrs in response. 

~~~

As Grimm and the remainder of the troupe approached the portal, Grimm grabbed his child and carefully placed him back into the cloak. 

"We're here!" He announced to the group. "We haven't a second to waste! Everybody through!" 

The last few of the Grimm Troupe went through the portal, removing any trace of their existence in the nearly destroyed Nightmare Realm. Grimm took a last look at the Nightmare Realm and sighed. 

"I won't miss this place." 

He went through the portal and was met with rain falling on top of his head. The sudden change from blazing heat to the chilly air of the foreign kingdom they were in was incredibly jarring, and Grimm quickly covered his child with his cloak to protect him from the rain. 

"Where are we, master?" A small Grimmkin asked. 

"I'm not sure," Grimm admitted. He walked up to a local and asked, "What kingdom might we be in?" 

The local, understandably confused, said slowly, "Hallownest... You must not be from around here." 

"You're quite correct on that," Grimm said. "My troupe and I had to flee from our home, we wandered far to get here. Is there anywhere nearby where we can get shelter?" His voice displayed his exhaustion. 

"There's a hotel along the main street, but other than that you'd be pushing your luck to find anything," he said. The local seemed to empathize with Grimm, or at least saw him as a charity case given the state of his clothes and the people he was traveling with. 

"Thank you much, kind sir," Grimm said, bowing to the local and returning to the troupe. 

As Grimm walked up to the troupe, he received strange looks of concern and worry. 

"Master, your eyes..." said Brumm. 

"What's wrong with my eyes?" Grimm asked, he found a puddle on the ground and looked at his reflection. His question was answered when he stared at himself; his eyes had lost all color. They were pitch black, like his child's eyes were. The burn mark he had received was starting to fade, which was the only thing Grimm could really be grateful for at this moment. 

"What do you think caused the change in pigment?" Brumm asked. 

Grimm stood up and let out a heavy sigh, "With the destruction of the Nightmare Realm, we no longer have our powers." 

"Ah, I see." Brumm lowered his head. "It's a shame that such a fate befell our once grand troupe." 

"You say that as if we'll never be grand once again," said Grimm. The confidence in his voice was false, but he had to keep pretending for the sake of his troupe. "We'll retaliate from this and be better than ever." 

"I hope you're right about that, master." 

~~~

Grimm was sitting on a bench on his own, apart from the child he cradled in his arms. 

Grimm sighed, "It's a shame you didn't get to meet her, young one. She was an interesting character, Divine was." Small tears began to fall out of his now pitch-black eyes. The child let out concerned whimpers and flew up to his father's shoulder. He nuzzled his face against his father's, understanding the sadness that wasn't spoken with words. Grimm gave a sad smile. 

"It's admirable you can read people's emotions so well, young one," said Grimm's tired, sad voice. "I'm worried about the future. Without the Nightmare Realm, our traditions are thrown entirely off-balance. I'm not sure what will happen, or if I'll even live to see it." 

The child understood none of what his father was saying, which made Grimm chuckle a small bit. "I'm rambling to a child," he had a moment of self-awareness.

"Sometimes, children are better listeners than anybody," Brumm's voice came from behind Grimm, slightly surprising him. "He may never know Divine in person, that much is unfortunately true, but he'll know her through stories to come." Brumm gestured to the child perched on his father's shoulder. "She can continue her life through our memories." 

"Excuse me," Grimm said, tears beginning to fall harder. He hated crying in front of his assistant, in front of his troupe. He wanted to be a pillar of confidence for them to latch on to and use as a guide, but his facade had fully crumbled away in that moment, reduced to nothing but a lost dream. "I'm sorry..." he said to the open air. "I didn't want to..." Grimm's shoulders began to shake. 

When Brumm first heard of what Grimm did, he considered his master a criminal. But, seeing him like this, he understood that wasn't the truth. Grimm was no criminal, he was just a man given one of the world's hardest decisions. In the end, a painless death that's quick is always preferable to a slow, painful one. 

A small, novice Grimmkin walked up towards Grimm, but Brumm's hand on their shoulder stopped them. 

"Give the master some space," Brumm said, making eye contact with the novice. "He needs it more than ever right now." 

"No, I'm okay," Grimm said, standing up. He regained his composure and wiped his eyes. "What do you need?" His voice sounded friendly towards the small Grimmkin, something that was rare. Grimm usually spoke to them with nothing but authority. 

"I.. uh... We were able to recover this before leaving..." The small Grimmkin held up the half-mask that Divine wore on her face. Grimm took it gingerly in his hands, soft streams of tears came down his face as he smiled. 

"Thank you for bringing me this," he said. "It's very appreciated." 

"O-of course, master," the Grimmkin bowed and scurried away. 

"Are you sure you're okay, master?" Brumm asked. 

Grimm looked down at the mask, then into his assistant's eyes. "I'll be fine."

"Mrmm. If you say so," Brumm was still concerned. "You said earlier that you were concerned for the future, which is understandable. But if I may give some advice, you should be more concerned about right now. The Grimm Troupe needs their master. They need you." 

Grimm gave a soft smile, "You're right." Brumm wasn't sure how to feel, he had never received a smile from his master. "Also, Brumm. Refer to me as Grimm from now on. I don't feel as if I deserve the title of master just yet." 

Brumm was surprised. Grimm had always been very adamant not to call him by his first name. "Y-yes, master. I-I mean... Grimm." It was a force of habit for Brumm to call Grimm 'Master'. 

Maybe it was a sign of changes to come.


	3. Where We Go From Here

She made sure she was out of view of her master when she removed her mask. He had always made that an apparent rule that you weren't allowed to remove your mask in front of him. Being a Grimmkin wasn't super rewarding, but she was forced into it at birth, so she didn't know of any other lifestyle.

As she removed her mask, she revealed her face to the rain. She sat down in an alley, her back pressed to the cold wall of a building next to her, and began to cry softly. She had experienced great loss in the fire, a kind of loss that causes inescapable pain.

"No mask I see. Hm?" Brumm's voice surprised the Grimmkin, but she quickly returned to comfort when she saw it was Brumm and not her master.

She quickly wiped her eyes and said, "Sorry, I just needed a breather."

Brumm sat down across from her. "I understand that. A lot of people are struggling right now," Brumm said, looking at the remainder of the troupe. "It'll take a long time for us to get back on our feet."

"What even caused the fire?" asked the Grimmkin.

"I'm not sure. That would be a question for Grimm," Brumm said truthfully.

"Master is the last person I'm willing to talk to right now. I can't believe he subjected us to half a day of walking just an hour after our tents were caught on fire," muttered the Grimmkin. She was clearly upset. "I lost my sister and he doesn't even give me time to grieve." Tears became evident in her eyes.

Brumm let a sigh escape from his mouth. "One of the things that I learned about understanding Grimm, is that you have to understand why he makes his choices from his perspective," Brumm began. "He's one of the smartest men I know, and he's made some of the hardest choices I've ever seen anybody make." Brumm had to fight tears when thinking of Divine. "He may seem like he's heartless, or that he has no time for emotion, but he's the opposite. He's an incredibly emotionally driven person."

The Grimmkin had a hard time believing that. "He's always brooding everywhere, covered up with his cloak. He's barely around, and when he is he's ordering us to do things."

"What's your name?" Brumm asked.

"L-Lorai..." She responded.

"Lorai. Life is going to change for all of us, and as a result, we change with it," Brumm said. "Someone's personality is never a stagnant, set in stone principle. Why do you think Grimm is trying so hard to keep the troupe alive right now?" His question caught Lorai off-guard.

"Because he has to as troupe master?" She asked, clueless.

"Because he cares about you. All of you," Brumm said. "Grimm wouldn't go out of his way to protect a group of people if he didn't truly care about them. He may have a backward way of showing it, but he sees the troupe as his family. And on top of that, he made a promise to someone he lost in the fire."

Lorai pondered this, the tears in the corner of her eyes forming again.

"I'll leave you be for now, but I hope your perspective has shifted a little bit." Brumm stood up.

"Th-thank you, Brumm."

She began to cry once more, mourning the loss of her sister.

~~~

The end of the day was approaching fast, and Grimm wasn't sure of where he could fit twelve bugs without any money. He eventually came to the decision that they would have to find somewhere outside of the city for them to stay. He wanted to inform Brumm of his decision, but he looked and saw Brumm talking to a Grimmkin. She looked like she was having a hard time, so he decided to leave them alone for now.

Grimm stood. He knew that the first thing the troupe would need is water. His cloak had about two hundred geo in it, more or less, so he went to go and purchase some water for everybody. As he walked the street, people either looked at him with fear or pity, which angered him incredibly much. He wasn't meant to be frightening, and he most certainly wasn't a charity case. He was trying his hardest to maintain a confident appearance, something he used to revel in, but with the state of the troupe, it was becoming increasingly harder to do. He found the nearest shop and went inside.

"Good evening, sir." The shop owner's voice was lively and joyful. "What can I do you for today?"

"Just water, please. Enough for fifteen bugs," Grimm's tired voice was incredibly rough and dry, which was the opposite of what it normally was.

The shop owner went to the back and came out with glass bottles of water. "75 geo, please."

Grimm handed him the geo and said, "Thank you much, sir."

"Stay safe now. Don't want to catch the infection, so I'd recommend finding somewhere to stay soon," the shop owner said.

"Infection?" Grimm was very confused.

"Do you not know? There's an infection, it's why the city is currently under lockdown." The shop owner said those words as if they were obvious.

"How long has the city been under lockdown?" Grimm was curious.

"Hmm, around five years now," said the shop owner.

"Oh good god," Grimm muttered underneath his breath. "Of all the portals..."

"I'm sorry?" the shop owner said. "I couldn't quite catch that."

"Oh, nothing. Have a good day, sir." Grimm walked out of the store and tried not to show his panic. He quickly made his way back to the troupe, he needed to talk to Brumm about this. As he approached the place where the troupe was sitting, he began to hand out the bottles of water.

"Drink slowly, you'll get sick otherwise," Grimm informed the Grimmkin as he handed them the bottles of water.

He approached the Grimmkin that Brumm was talking to earlier, she had been sitting against a building almost all day. Lorai began to panic as she saw her master approaching, quickly scurrying to place her mask back on.

"Here," Grimm said, handing her a bottle of water. "Drink slowly. Also, don't be so worried about your mask, I don't mind if you don't wear it," Grimm said, giving her a small, soft smile.

~~~

Once all the water was handed out to the Grimmkin, Grimm met with Brumm.

"Thank you for the water, Grimm," Brumm said, taking careful sips of his water.

"Of course, but there's a different reason I need to speak with you," Grimm said, his voice was quick and showed his panic. "As I was talking to the shop owner, he said that there's an infection in the city. He also said the city has been on lockdown for five years."

Brumm was caught off guard by this. "Five years?"

"It makes me wonder what kind of infection this could be, if they've had it for five years yet still have everything public open," Grimm thought out loud. "It must not be contagious."

"Well, we can't take that chance, Grimm. We don't know if it is or not, but we have to act on the assumption that it is until we know more," Brumm said.

"If the city is on lockdown, then we can't leave. No one gets in, no one gets out," Grimm said, his voice clearly showing the number of hours he's been awake. Grimm confident facade fell apart once more. "I... I just don't know what to do from here. We've never been in this much of a time of need, and it seems like everything is against us."

"Grimm. You're not giving up, not after the promise you made to her," Brumm said. "I know times are hard, which is why you need to step up and become the troupe master that you were born to be. You need to lead the Grimm Troupe into greatness once more."

Grimm looked into Brumm's eyes. There was a confidence in them that Grimm envied.

"Just because it's the easiest option, giving up is never the best option. We'll make it through this," Brumm's voice was empowering, but Grimm was too tired and distraught to truly appreciate it.

"You're right as always, Brumm." Grimm's exhaustion was taking over. "I need to think about this," Grimm said.

Brumm could see his master in front of him, and he could see that he hadn't slept in at least a day. "Master, you need to rest just as much as the rest of us do."

"I need to find a place for us to stay," Grimm said. "I don't have time to rest."

Brumm sighed. "I know you want to keep your promise as much as possible, but to keep the troupe safe you have to keep yourself safe too."

Grimm stopped to think and realized how tired he truly was. "But..."

"Grimm, you're tired. Get some sleep." Brumm spoke with an authoritative tone, which was new to Grimm. He had always spoken to others with authority, but he had never been spoken to with authority.

"...Okay," Grimm could see staying up wasn't going to be good for anybody. "Goodnight, Brumm. Get some sleep as well."

"Of course, Grimm. Goodnight."


End file.
